Our Queen at 90: ‘I had been warned about the Royal sense of humour - but wasn't prepared for its dryness’

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The Queen at 90 secured unprecedented access members of the Royal household and captured the monarch in her most private moments. Here, its director Ashley Gething describes taking on the biggest challenge of his careerCredit:
ITV

This was just one of many insights about the Queen, which feature in the landmark documentary I recently completed, and which airs on Sunday night at 8pm on ITV.

I’ve been making documentaries for 16 years, but this was my first major biographical piece. Filming with the Royal Family was like arriving in a new country. You have to feel your way, learn the language and negotiate complex protocols.

The biggest challenge was how to tell a story that would help us understand both the Queen's life today, but also the last ninety - extraordinary - years.

How were we going to build a coherent picture out of a jigsaw puzzle of contemporary engagements - everything from the opening of a new Dental Hospital in Edgbaston to a Commonwealth Summit in Malta?

In the end I decided to use the Queen's working life today as a prism through which we could look at her life and reign.

The Queen attending the Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace November 2015 Credit:
ITV

Our access was extraordinary. During the filming we interviewed members of the Royal Family, world leaders, major public figures and members of the public, in an attempt to discover more about the best known but least understood public figure of our times.

But there was one day when I felt we did catch sight of the real Elizabeth.

The Queen had been riding in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Dressed in her trademark headscarf and jodhpurs, she seemed totally at ease, walking around the stables at the Royal Mews, and feeding carrots to her horses. We were afforded a glimpse of her that day that is almost impossible to articulate. It was the side of her I was keen to portray: Her Majesty off-duty.

One thing that took me by surprise was the Queen's sense of humour and it came to the fore on one of the most glittering evenings in the Buckingham Palace calendar. The Diplomatic Reception is a yearly gathering of London's Diplomatic community. Eight hundred diplomats descend on the Palace, resplendent in their national dress.

We were filming in the antechamber where the Queen and the Royal Family gather prior to the reception. The Queen turned to the Lord Chamberlain and said: “Do you think if we open the doors there will be anyone there?”

Prince William speaks to ITV for Our Queen at 90Credit:
ITV

A second or two later trumpets sounded, the doors were flung open, and the Queen walked out to meet the assembled throng.

What impressed me most, though, was the Queen’s work ethic. We filmed her at nine in the morning, and at 11 at night. It's mind-boggling that, at almost 90 years of age, she still works five days a week, week in week out, and has done for the last 63 years.

It's the support of her family that has underpinned the success of the Queen's reign. Our film has contributions from more members of the royal family than any documentary ever made - a measure of how much the Queen means to them and how significant they feel this birthday is.

Chatting to younger members of the Royal Family I got a very strong sense that they saw her in two very different guises - as The Queen, but also as their grandmother. Over time, they have found a way of reconciling her public and private personas. And as they've grown older, her grandchildren have put aside some of the formality to enjoy a richer, deeper and more personal relationship with their remarkable grandmother.

Interesting parallels also emerged when I interviewed the Duchess of Cambridge. She talked about the quiet guidance the Queen has given her. Memorably, she also shared the story of her first Christmas at Sandringham. She faced a rather daunting dilemma - what present to give to the Queen? Her answer - rather surprisingly - was to present her with some homemade chutney. Unconventional it may have been - but it seems to have worked.

The Duchess of Cambridge talks to ITV for the Our Queen at 90 documentaryCredit:
ITV

It's been a remarkable year of filming - I've been astonished at the scale of some of the Queen's engagements - the State Visit she undertook to Germany and the State Visit she hosted for the Chinese President were both epic in their scope and complexity. They left me exhausted, so I have no idea how the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh - who is himself ninety five this year - cope.

It's also been tremendous fun, encapsulated for me by one rather lovely event. In 2015 The Women’s Institute celebrated its hundredth anniversary.

The WI - famed for its culinary skills - invited the Queen to cut the centenary cake. Perhaps too many raisins had been added to the mixture. At any rate the knife got stuck, and despite the Queen's best efforts it would move neither up nor down.

All this time the Queen was playing her part to perfection - entertaining the assembled throng with a bit of royal slapstick. In some ways it summed up the Queen - a consummate performer who makes everyone's day a little brighter - and has been doing for the last ninety years.

Ashley Gething is the producer and director of Our Queen At 90, which airs on ITV at 8pm tonight.